Palna (Cradle)

Disclaimer: All those not in the mood for in-your-face reality bites (literally), specially with the festivities in the air, can stop reading now!


Writing after a real long time, a lot of people who matter have been reminding me to get back so yea. Yours truly is here again :). My sentences might appear rather choppy, cause Im yet to gather my thoughts, and form sentences subsequently. The order of these two activities is kind of messed up right now, so excuse the chaos.


This post is about Palna which is the hindi word for 'cradle,' which Im assuming, most of us would know is the horizontal bed, used for rocking infants. It is this orphanage close to where I stay. I chose Diwali to visit this place, cause sometimes we forget to be grateful. Sometimes, we feel a little less blessed. We're angry, we're hurt, we're disappointed, and most of all we're disillusioned. Well, again I'm assuming it happens to all of us.


Like I forewarned you, if you're feeling rather high and festive, this is not the post you want to read. 


I stepped in, hoping to spread some cheer. Small feet rushed towards me, dressed in reds and blues and greens and yellows. Greeted me, 'Happy Diwali,' and almost as swiftly as they had appeared, vanished in to the garden, back to the merriment. All young children between 1-8 years, oblivious of almost everything that might bother a grown up mind. Blissfully so... 
I couldn't muster a response, I must have choked, I don't remember that part. 


What I do remember though is feeling quite guilty of not being thankful, often enough. 


Thankful to my parents, for the beautiful life they gave me, my education, all material things, the world of opportunities and everything in between. 

Who is a Friend?


I believe we never stop learning. I try picking up habits, traits, skills et al. I try hard to be like a sponge, absorbing as much as the world has to offer, by way of people around me, friends, family, acquaintances etc. More often than not, the context could be missing, but if there's something about you, I really admire, be sure that I would pick it up and put it to practice. That said, there are a lot of things, which might have been said by friends off hand, but have gotten etched in my mind, cause they gave me a whole new perspective. Whatever they said, helped me see things in a new light. Im sure by now you are wondering where this is heading. I'll get to it soon (assuming I am to hold your interest that long)


Here I was whining bout my life in general, to a friend. All this over chat, cause well I keep procrastinating about calling her, but the thought rarely converts to action. But she being truly what she is, saw me online and inquired if I was fine, all thanks to my prolonged state of hibernation from my friend circle. She figured there would be volumes I needed to offload. 


After going on for 5 full minutes, ( and thats a lot, cause I type quite fast), all she had to say was, 'Do you seek me out as a friend ever?, call me up at any hour of the day, wherever I am, I seek you out when I need a friend, I tell you whatever bothers me because I don't need to be told that you are a friend and I can speak to you, I know you are there and even if I don't meet you, that's a lot of support for me mentally.' 


I have always felt that the whole '2 a.m friend is an over-rated concept, but I have only truly realized its meaning now. While its good to have a bunch of like-minded people to hang out with at nice cafe's and bars, sometimes you need that doze of reality and affection that a true friend can offer. Your life may not look like one long party, but those one or two real close pals, sure make it a lot more bearable and put it all in perspective.


So, thanks my dear for being you always.....